Current (2020) and Long-Term (2035 and 2050) Sustainable Potentials of Wood Fuel in Switzerland

Improving forest management by implementing best suitable timber harvesting methods

Efficient forest operations are required for the provision of biodiversity and numerous ecosystem services, such as wood production, carbon sequestration, protection against natural hazards and recreation. In numerous countries, under difficult terrain conditions, the costs of forest management and harvesting are not covered by timber revenue. One possible option to increase the cost-effectiveness of the forestry sector is the application of state-of-the-art harvesting and extraction techniques, so-called best suitable harvesting methods. We present a case study from Switzerland, where a lack of competitiveness in the forestry sector is of particular interest, with the aim of quantifying the efficiency gains if estimated best suitable harvesting methods were to be rigorously applied instead of the currently applied harvesting methods. For this purpose, we developed a spatial decision support system to allocate estimated best suitable harvesting methods to plots, while concurrently considering hauling route limitations, extraction route properties and stand characteristics. Our approach was based on productivity models and supported with expert-defined decision trees. The evaluation of the estimated best suitable harvesting methods and the comparison with the currently applied harvesting methods were completed for all 6500 National Forest Inventory (NFI) plots in Switzerland. We draw the following three major conclusions from our study: First, our modeling approach is an effective method to allocate estimated best suitable harvesting methods to NFI plots. Second, applying estimated best suitable harvesting methods would lead to cost reductions, in particular in the regions that include steep terrain and where harvesting mainly relies on cable- and air based extraction methods. Third, assuming an average timber price of 75 CHF m ^-3, 64 % instead of 52 % of the forest area could be harvested economically over the whole country if estimated best suitable methods were applied. This advantage would mainly be caused by a shift towards more mechanized harvesting methods. Improving the cost-effectiveness of the forestry sector is of high global relevance, as the increased use of domestic timber resources is a cost-efficient way to reduce atmospheric carbon emissions. The methodological framework described here was developed for Switzerland in particular, but it could be applied to Central Europe and other parts of Europe with a large amount of mountain forests.

Exploring Environmental and Economic Costs and Benefits of a Forest-Based Circular Economy: A Literature Review

The role of a forest sector in the transition to a circular economy (CE) is critical. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to summarize the main findings of the most important published articles and to provide insights on the interdisciplinary space at the interface of concepts related to a forest-based CE. Moreover, it attempts to assess the challenges raised from adopting the CE in forest sector. Through a systematic literature review, 69 scientific publications were selected and evaluated by two sights: (i) a descriptive analysis and (ii) a cluster analysis of the keywords related to the forest-based CE. The study highlights the need for additional survey on optimizing the interaction between forest ecosystem services and circular economy. Further discussion is also needed about the relations of the key factors associated with the forest-based circular economy, as they emerged from the cluster analysis and the co-occurrence network map.